NASA’s latest Mars rover is scheduled to land August 5, 2012 after traveling more than 352 million miles from earth.
The rover (named Curiosity) will be more than twice as long and 5 times as massive as any of its predecessors. It is anticipated that Curiosity will be able to traverse 12 times as much terrain as any previous Mars vehicle.
For those who are not likely to donate tens of millions of dollars to a favorite university, it is still possible to have a campus building named after you -- or at least a portion of a building. Cutbacks in government funding and private donations have fomented new strategies. Parts of buildings are now being named to honor donors. For instance, Harvard recently named a men’s restroom after a contributor. Another institution has been even more “creative” as it has sponsor-designated gymnasium lavatory stalls, complete with plaques. I wonder if “Go Team” may now have an entirely new meaning.
Beware of traffic behind as you drive on America’s streets and highways. In 2011, approximately 1,600,000 rear-end vehicle crashes occurred in the U.S.A.
Are you skilled at sea-diving and finding treasure? Perhaps you might join the small assemblage of archeologists, sea salvage experts and cartographers that have recently combined efforts to systematically map the entire sea floor of the Mediterranean Sea. The intent is to locate and recover many of the historical artifacts and other precious cargo from ships that have sunk over the last 3,000 years. One salvage specialist estimates that there are 300,000 Mediterranean wreck sites as yet uncharted.
One recent study indicates that hunger and fatigue experienced by court system judges can significantly influence judicial decisions. The research (conducted in Israel) revealed that penalties were approximately 65% harsher when rulings were made just prior to lunch compared to those rulings rendered immediately following lunch breaks.
Deer farming is big business. Prize bucks can bring in as much revenue as do prize bulls. Texas leads the nation in deer farm production and one Lone Star whitetail buck has already garnered over $200,000 from insemination fees.
The influenza bug can be very much a health problem to human beings. Statistics from 2009 indicate that each person who contracted the swine flu potentially infected 1.5 people with the disease. In comparison, health researchers claim that the 1918 flu epidemic grew as each infected person passed the virus to an average of 2.5 potential victims.
Well, make an effort to obtain your court decisions after lunch – and have a great week.